Yesterday I went to visit a client on a small estate whose broadband has been playing up intermittently. BT have been extending the dealine for fixing the line fault, and it is now obvious that it is going to be a long term problem. The client is very dependent on their internet connection to access their accounts software that is hosted in the cloud So I had a chat with one of their neighbours – another of our clients – and set up a wireless bridge using two Linksys access points between their networks. The link is the WAN side of both their firewalls, so their networks aren’t talking to each other. It just means that my client can now use their neighbours internet connection whilst theirs is flaky. It is working very well, they now have a stable route out to the internet. My generous client is also safe in the knowledge that should they have a problem with their internet, a backup solution is already there for them.
So I had a chat with one of their neighbours – another of our clients – and set up a wireless bridge using two Linksys access points between their networks. The link is the WAN side of both their firewalls, so their networks aren’t talking to each other. It just means that my client can now use their neighbours internet connection whilst theirs is flaky.
It is working very well, they now have a stable route out to the internet.
My generous client is also safe in the knowledge that should they have a problem with their internet, a backup solution is already there for them.
Like everything with your Internet access you get what you pay for. If you have a single broadband connection then you cannot expect 100% uptime and a lightening fast response to any faults.
So what is the solution? Leased lines are great, they have guaranteed SLAs, compensation for downtime, and little downtime to boot. They are of course expensive, but if your business cannot trade without the Internet then it becomes as essential an item as anything else in your office. Below that in cost there are Bonded ADSL and SDSL solutions that combine multiple lines and present them as one.
Then you have load balanced lines where two or more lines are present, but fail over is possibly a more manual process. Then we have to start thinking about different ways of connecting to the Internet. We have had great success with 3G routers that give Internet access over the wireless network, and don’t rely on a working telephone line.